EXPRESSions Newsletter

22 May 2018

The Yukon government signed a bilateral agreement on the second phase of the Investing in Canada Plan with the federal government on May 4th. Under the agreement, Whitehorse will receive almost ten million dollars over ten years in federal funds for public transit infrastructure. The federal cost share will be up to 75%.

In Québec, Infrastructure Canada made three public transit announcements on Monday, May 14. Most projects in Gatineau, La Prairie and Laval have already started, and all are funded under the Public Transit Infrastructure Fund. Quebec City was also granted a $33M investment two days later.

Additionally, Prime Minister Trudeau and Minister Sohi were in Calgary on May 15 to confirm a federal government’s $1.53 billion contribution to the Green Line Project. While projects unveiled in Quebec were funded through PTIF, at least part of the money allocated to the Green Line is coming from the bilateral agreement signed on April 3rd, 2018.

CUTA welcomes new Director of Public Affairs and Strategic Communications, Chad Jeudy-Hugo

CUTA is pleased to welcome Chad Jeudy-Hugo as CUTA’s new Director of Public Affairs and Strategic Communications. Chad will join the CUTA Team on Monday, June 4 and will lead the Communications and Public Affairs team in Toronto and Ottawa, working out of CUTA’s Ottawa office.

Chad is fluently bilingual and has several years of experience working on transportation and other files at a public relations and communications firm in Montréal as well as many years of international advocacy and public transport policy experience in Brussels. Chad brings significant leadership to CUTA having lead consultant teams in the development and execution of strategic government relations and regulatory affairs campaigns. Chad will be part of CUTA’s leadership team and will report to Wendy Reuter, Acting President & CEO.

New Mobility Symposium 2018: See our incredible line-up of speakers!

The New Mobility Symposium in Vancouver is an exciting opportunity for transit leaders across Canada to come together and engage in a uniquely Canadian perspective on how Transportation Network Companies (TNCs) and New Mobility actors can complement and work with their systems. With a first-class international panel of speakers, and the ancillary events we have planned alongside the symposium, we are expecting a broad range of municipal employees and planners, transit professionals, academics and entrepreneurs to this event.

Gain a variety of perspectives on TNCs and new mobility from Bruce Schaller at Schaller Consulting, a former senior official in the New York City Department of Transportation. He will bring some surprising data on the impact ride hailing has had on subway ridership and traffic congestion in NYC and other major U.S. cities. Andrew Salzberg, Head of Transportation Policy and Research at Uber , will focus on how to make Uber an integral part of the future of urban transportation through research, partnerships, and policy development.

Join us in Vancouver! The New Mobility Symposium is a must-attend event: Register here.

Be a part of the largest Conference and Tradeshow in the Transit Industry in Canada!

Session themes:

1) Marketing the idea of Public Transit - How do you engage the public to use transit, and how do you convince them that transit matters?

2) Anticipating the evolving transit needs of customers - As cities change and grow, how can transit change and adapt accordingly? How can transit and technology meet the changing expectations of customers?

3) Building a customer-first culture - How can public transit put customers at the heart of every decision?

4) Deep customer insights and data that drives solutions - How can solving customer concerns lead to further innovations in technology and safety?

Also, this event will feature RailConnect: As our event is being held in Toronto, we will take this opportunity to explore rail-focused topics relevant to the transit industry. CUTA welcome abstracts on topics related to Light Rail, Subway and Passenger Heavy Rail.

After the success of our first webinar in 2018, CUTA’s Maintenance and Vehicle Technology Sub-Committee is hosting a second webinar where four transit systems will be presenting on their own experiences with alternative fuels. Date to be confirmed. More information to come soon.

For further questions, please contact Anita Bayoulou at extension 103.

Electrification Survey & Roadmap to Electrification Workshop

All transit system CUTA members should have received a copy of the Electrification Survey, sent the week May 24th. This survey will be used to inform the Roadmap to Electrification Report, which will be produced by the Maintenance Sub-Committee and will be available to all members after publication. The deadline for submitting the survey is June 1st, 2018.

All CUTA transit systems are also invited to attend the Roadmap to Electrification Workshop, taking place in Vancouver on June 14th and 15th, 2018. The purpose of this workshop is to share information between systems who are at any place along the spectrum of adopting electrification. Included in the workshop will be presentations by Translink, Edmonton Transit and ATUQ (Québec Systems), in addition to a tour of TransLink’s electric trolley bus garage. The information gathered from this workshop, as well as the Electrification Survey, will be used to inform the Roadmap to Electrification. This is a free workshop and discounted hotel rates are available.

Please contact Lauren Rudko at extension 113 for more details regarding the survey or to register for the workshop.

CUTA’S CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE AND THE FUTURE OF URBAN MOBILITY IN CANADA

A key pillar of CUTA’s 2017-2019 Strategic Plan is to establish the organization as a Centre of Excellence (COE) on Transit and Integrated Urban Mobility (IUM), and to show thought-leadership in shaping and influencing the future of urban mobility in Canada.

While we work towards the launch of the COE in 2018, you can visit CUTA’s website for updates on COE projects and resources, and read on below for some projects currently underway!

Webinar Recording Available: Carshare and Public Transit

CUTA hosted a webinar on opportunities for partnership between carshare and public transit on Thursday, May 17th, 2018. The purpose of the webinar was to help operationalize the Integrated Mobility Implementation Toolbox.

Please contact Lauren Rudko extension 113 if you wish to receive a recording of the webinar.

Ridership Projects Update

The Ridership Trends Project will be concluding in early June, with the fourth and final deliverable available to the project group for review the first week of June.

The Ridership Methodology Project survey is still under review and will be distributed to member transit systems in early June.

CUTA Learning: Are you in need of Transit Operator De-escalation Training?

Our 3-day Advanced Train-the-Trainer Certification for Transit Ambassador, is specifically intended for difficult and dangerous situations – providing tools for operators to diffuse potentially violent situations. CUTA’s Transit Ambassador Program will help transit systems create or expand upon a culture of customer service by empowering employees with skills to better handle the many situations that arise when interacting with customers. The program is very flexible and customizable: use it as is, or opt to modify it to meet your specific needs.

STRADA Transit Operator Recruitment Tool

Are you in need of updating your hiring practices when it comes to bus operators and supervisors?

STRADA is a reliable, integrated hiring solution designed to increase the probability of selecting the best candidates for the position of bus/transit operator, to reduce staff time in the recruitment process and to reduce costs associated with recruitment as well as budget lost through training unsuccessful candidates. At only $20 per candidate report, we encourage you to take advantage of this tool. Find out how we can help improve your hiring process. Call us now.